Tā méi dài yàoshi, yòng tiěsī bōdòng le liǎngxià, mén jūrán kāi le.
He’d forgotten his key, but after he jiggled a piece of wire in the lock a couple of times, the door actually opened.
Sentence #934185 from Tatoeba · translation adapted
How 居然 is built
Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.
居jūto reside; to live
户door · hùMeaning part
古old · gǔSound part
户 hints at the meaning (door); 古 (gǔ) hints at the sound. Compare it with jū.
然ráncorrect
肰dog meat · ránSound part
灬fire form of 火 · huǒMeaning part
灬 hints at the meaning (fire); 肰 (rán) hints at the sound. Compare it with rán.
Memory aidFire 灬 under meat 肰. Its first meaning was “to burn”, now written 燃 (rán).
How to write 居然
居 8 strokes · 然 12 strokes
Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.
Stroke order chart for 居然 (jūrán). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.
居然 (jūrán) means “unexpectedly” or “to one’s surprise”. It is an HSK 5 word.
Say it jūrán: jū with a 1st tone, then rán with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 居然 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type juran with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 居然 from the suggestions. Typing juran into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
居然 is an HSK 5 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.
Turn words into conversations
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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.
居jū1st tone, high and level
然rán2nd tone, rising
